Breaking the Barrier
by swishandflickwit
Summary: He gave her a look, "You're so peculiar, Granger." He was the one standing on the edge of a ledge asking her to join him and she was the peculiar one? And before she could ask what the hell he meant, Draco Malfoy jumped. Looking for life? Here it is.


**A/N: Ok so, we'll just ignore the whole Dumbledore fell off the tower thing. He's still dead but for this story to happen, he didn't fall off the Astronomy Tower. Other than that, enjoy the fic. It's cliché and fluffy but I wrote it for anyone who feels as if they are being broken down by life. Don't worry loves, you're not alone.**

**So really, enjoy.**

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><p>There were days when she felt so completely full of life that she felt there was no end. Anything was possible and with the added bonus of magic well, truly, there was nothing she couldn't do.<p>

But then there were days when she just felt so completely devoid of life that she wondered what the point of anything was at all.

Today was one of those days.

Or more appropriately, this week had been one of _those_ weeks.

It was nearing three in the morning and the current brain of Hogwarts could not for the life of her (har, har) get some much needed rest. Sleep was avoiding her and if anything, she thought, if I feel so lifeless then sleep should have been easy. Sleep was quiet and it was darkness and there was nothing, which was why it should have been no problem.

But alas, it was and there was no choice but for her to do something in order to fall asleep.

She would opt for a sleeping draught but that was all the way to the Hospital Wing. She didn't mind the trek but she did mind that she would be waking up Madame Pomphrey from a – no doubt – sound sleep and that would be selfish and cruel, two things she prided herself of not being. She could read but, she really didn't feel like it tonight. She had read her entire library dry and she didn't fancy another go.

Hermione walked across her room to her window that overlooked the Black Lake and that was when it struck her.

_Air_. She needed air. She needed oxygen and maybe, if she had enough, she could breathe life back into herself.

Going to the lake wouldn't do. She needed height.

She knew exactly where she needed to go.

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><p>Surprisingly, making her way to the Astronomy Tower was no problem at all. No wandering students, no wandering <em>teachers, <em>no Mrs. Norris and most certainly no Mr. Filch.

Hermione was actually looking forward to this little adventure that was all her own. Little things could ever bring her joy after the war and so she was ridiculously giddy to note that a spark had ignited in her as the view of the door to the balcony of the Astronomy Tower drew nearer.

She took a deep breath and opened the door. She was prepared for a night of peace and was not prepared for the sight that met her.

There stood Draco Malfoy. And he wasn't just standing on any surface but there he was, standing on the ledge of the balcony and, oh Merlin, she thought. He's going to jump.

Before she knew it, she was racing to his side and shouting, "Don't do it, Malfoy!"

Malfoy whipped his head to the source of the voice and found himself staring down into the eyes of none other than Hermione Granger who was currently, tugging on his pant leg.

"Oh, well, hello Granger."

Hello? _Hello_? He's about to jump off a tower and he says _HELLO?_ The thought was ringing in her head and she proceeded to tell him so as well as to say he was off his rocker and Malfoy GET DOWN FROM THERE.

He, on the other hand, did nothing but grin down at her the whole time and by the end of her tirade, offered her his hand.

She looked at it and seriously just considered pushing him off herself if he continued this idiosyncrasy. She was about to suggest it when he said, "It's a beautiful night and the view is simply breathtaking. Won't you come join me?"

"You're joking, right? This is all a big prank and any minute now, McGonagall and Hagrid and Harry and Ron and everyone is going to come out and say, hey! Gotcha!"

He gave her a look, "You're so peculiar, Granger."

He was the one standing on the edge of a ledge asking her to join him and _she _was the peculiar one?

"Come on," he urged, "if it's any consolation, it's really safe here whether I jump or not."

And before she could ask what the hell he meant, Draco Malfoy jumped.

Stranger still, he did not fall but merely floated on air, on his back, looking as if he were laying down on nothing more than a hammock in his backyard (she wondered briefly if the Malfoys actually _owned_ a hammock in their backyard then realized that she was digressing and it really didn't matter right now).

"You see dear?" He said with a slight teasing town and a smirk playing upon his lips. "There's nothing to fear. Do you actually think that the founders would build a tower so high in a school for _children_ without taking some precautions?"

"So… it's charmed to, to keep people from falling to their deaths if there ever were a situation to arrive?" If she thought about it, it made quite a lot of sense.

He nodded. "Precisely. Not just on this tower, it's on all the towers. There's a barrier around here that doesn't let us fall but just catches us and lets us float until someone gets us down."

She stared intently at him, wondering why he knew so much when she had never encountered this when reading Hogwarts, A History when it struck her.

"This isn't the first time you've done this, is it?"

He stared back just as heatedly as if contemplating whether to deny it when he decided to just spill.

"A couple times, maybe."

"But, why?" She asked. Malfoy smirked some more and patted the space beside him. "Join me and maybe I'll tell you."

She was genuinely curious now and was slightly disappointed when he didn't tell her immediately. Though she shouldn't have been, seeing as how – even after the war – they weren't close and not even good acquaintances. Interaction between them was limited to nods in passing in the hallway or none at all.

However, Malfoy was not a bad person, this she knew. Though he bore the Dark Mark, there were no ill–feelings on her part because she knew. She knew that hating people like her was all he'd ever known and he didn't deserve what malice she would give him. And though she didn't entirely comprehend his motives during the war (he could have defected and joined the Order after all) he did not kill any one and he refused to confirm their identities during the trio's quick stop in Malfoy Manor when it was so fairly obvious who they were and that, in her opinion, was enough. Enough for her to just back off and leave him be and give him a smidgen of respect for, somehow, saving her, Ron's and Harry's life.

She was about to refuse him, to just walk away and come back another night but, her heart was pounding and she had never felt more sure about wanting something in a long time. Then she remembered her reason for coming to the Astronomy Tower and though it was a lot different from what she initially planned to do, she figured this was still a great way to start.

Malfoy was about to beckon again but was caught off guard when, in a flash, she was on the ledge and jumping. Instinctively, he lunged for her but wasn't fast enough. It didn't matter though because she was already floating beside him. She gave a little laugh and muttered, "Incredible," while looking down around her.

She then turned to him and smiled, his heart skipped a little beat.

"What now?"

"Well," he started, lying back down with his hands behind his head. "We see."

His gaze drifted upwards and she did the same. What she saw took her breath away.

Tonight, the sky was littered with stars. Just stars. They twinkled and they winked and she swore she could hear tiny bells of laughter cause they looked like diamonds all clinking against one another. It was beautiful and Draco had voiced this as he noticed her reaction.

"Yes, it is. This is amazing!"

"Indeed. It's one of the reasons I come up here."

She mirrored his position, her hands laying at her side instead and asked, "Just one of the reasons?" attempting to be casual.

He chuckled, "Very clever Granger."

"You did say you were going to tell me if I joined you."

"I guess I did." He said with a sigh. "Well, if you really must know. Yes, I've done this before and I do it because I can't sleep,"

She snorted, "I know _that_ feeling."

He gave her a pointed look for interrupting but then he sighed and mumbled, "And because it's a nice feeling."

"What's a nice feeling?"

He turned his head to face her and he said, "Letting go. The feeling of freedom. The feeling of _life_!

"I don't know if you've noticed Granger, but life hasn't been very kind to me. And I know some people have it worse, hell, I can't even begin to imagine what you, Weasley and Potter went through to achieve victory during the war but," he took a breath, "we all have our demons. Mine haunts me and it sucks the life right out of me and I come here to try to get that back. To get my life back. I come here to think and I've never felt more alive than when I am here, floating on the edge of, what seems to be, life itself."

She sucked in a breath. The night was full of oddities but this moment was the oddest one yet. Who knew that she and Malfoy could ever, _ever_, share something in common? And that something being their _feelings_?

When she didn't say anything for a while, he thought she didn't understand. He sighed and returned to staring at the sky, slightly embarrassed that he had shared so much and all for naught.

"I know, it's fucked up but–"

"It's ok. I know and I, I understand."

His head snapped back to her and he gazed at her confusedly.

"How could you even begin to understand? You're Granger, you have everything, you have _friends, family, recognition_," he swallowed the lump in his throat, "_love_. You couldn't possibly understand Miss Hermione Granger," He said with a slightly bitter and mocking tone, "because unlike me, you have love and you have life."

She turned to him, her body facing him and her head resting on a propped up elbow.

"Don't presume to know me, Draco Malfoy!" (in the back of his head, he felt a sort of amusement that they had addressed each other with their full names at least once but ah, he thought, I digress) "You said your piece, well now it's my turn.

"Life has not been kind to me either. Here I was, eleven and feeling as if I didn't belong when all of a sudden a man in strange and colorful garments comes to me and tells me I'm a witch. The funny thing is, I have never heard anyone say anything more right in my life because finally, I felt that I belonged. Then I realize that this world was no different than the one I had left because still, I was not accepted. I was not _pure_."

At this he flinched. She noticed and, chagrined, she softened her tone. "Then I wasn't eleven anymore and I was in a war, a war that forced me to grow up faster than most children because I had to fight for my right to stay and my right to _live_. I don't regret anything but Merlin, the people that were lost to this war… There were so many... so, so, _so_ many and I feel that I am lost with them. Everyone seems to have moved on and sometimes I feel that I have too but this war has hardened me and," She took a breath. "I simply cannot feel."

She hadn't noticed she was crying until he touched her cheek and caught a tear. Embarrassed, she started to pull away but he caught her wrist and gently, he said, "Please, don't leave. I need to... I need to say something."

She couldn't believe she allowed herself to be so vulnerable in his presence but there was something in his eyes that made her want to stay. They had learned deep secrets from each other tonight and she thought, after all that had been said, perhaps it wouldn't hurt to hear just a little bit more.

"I'm sorry," his voice cracked and his eyes watered. "I never knew. I'm sorry, a thousand times I could say it and it would never make up for what you've been through. It's foolish now to think that my burden is so big when there is yours to bear.

"I want you to know, I _need_ you to know that you are, in every way, deserving to be in this world. You are all that is good and kind and light and," he brushed a one of the tears that escaped with a tender brush of his thumb, "don't dare think otherwise. Please, don't think that you are empty of life. If anything, if you weren't here I think _life_ would be empty of _you_.

"I'm sorry about the things I said." His tears began to fall and she brushed away his tears in return, "I'm sorry about-about my aunt and I'm sorry I wasn't brave enough to save you. To save you, Potter and Weasley."

She shook her head. "I accept all accounts of your apology but for that final part. Please, don't apologize for that. If you had done anything, if it were any different then we wouldn't be here. If you rebelled you would've been killed and so would we. And Voldemort," She shuddered just _thinking _it. "Voldemort would win."

"But I–"

"Hush, Draco. Don't. For what it's worth, _I'm_ sorry too."

He pulled away from her, surprise in his features. "Whatever could you be sorry for?"

"I was wrong about you Malfoy. You claim me to be kind but I judged you too. Perhaps if I had gotten to know you, if _we_ had gotten to know you more, you wouldn't have had to suffer so much."

She realized right then just how broken they both were. They were jagged in all the same places and inside of them they both felt the emptiness and the nothingness that the war had dealt everyone but had stayed far to long in them.

"I'm glad," she whispered, as his fingers glided along her skin catching the remnant tears that ran down her face. "I'm glad it was you here tonight." She noticed his eyes that were once so cold start to warm at her words and she continued, "And I forgive you. I can't really forget. It will take some time, but I forgive you and as I stay here, I can't help but feel quite… _alive_. And it's not cause of where we are. It's who I'm with. And I'm with you Malfoy."

She smiled and he too, started to smile and slowly, he lay down motioned for her to rest beside him, in the crook of his arm.

"Thank you," he murmured. "I'm glad it was you, too… And, I don't feel so broken anymore, or empty."

He stared into her eyes and she had never felt so connected to anyone. In fact, she had never felt so whole and so full and with him never breaking contact, she thought that he had said that because maybe, just maybe, they had filled each other.

She rested her forehead atop his, breathing in as he breathed out and she marveled at how her body molded against his so perfectly.

So this was air – the scent of his skin and the light breeze – and this was life, his steady heartbeat in rhythm with her own. And when his lips made contact with hers she felt complete and she felt like she belonged right there, with her head resting on his shoulder and his arms wrapped around her.

Light was beginning to flood the heavens. Only then did they both close their eyes.

And the sound of deep breathing filled the sky.

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><p><strong>AN: Ok well _that_ was a little to overdramatized. Not exactly what I was going for but hmm, it ran away from me again. What a monster I have created! Hopefully, that didn't scare you too much!**

**Is it too much to ask to leave a review? :)**

**_04/29/2013: I read over this story again and it's really, really embarrassing. It's not well thought, characterization is off and it just went too fast! I'm so sorry if you feel like you've wasted your time and I did rectify some parts. I will, however, not take it down because it is a reflection of my growth and a reminder for me to _NEVER _imitate or duplicate this kind of plot _EVER AGAIN. _You're welcome to read my other stories though! My favorite is The Mud on His Italian, Leather Boots and Cravings! _**


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